The disclosure relates to turbine blades. More particularly, the disclosure relates to attachment of non-metallic blades to turbine disks in gas turbine engines.
Gas turbine engines contain rotating blade stages in fan, compressor, and/or turbine sections of the engine.
In the turbine sections, high temperatures have imposed substantial constraints on materials. An exemplary turbine section blade is formed of a cast nickel-based superalloy having an internal air cooling passageway system and a thermal barrier coating (TBC). The exemplary blade has an airfoil extending radially outward from a platform. A so-called fir tree/dovetail attachment root depends from the platform and is accommodated in a complementary slot in a disk. The exemplary disk materials are powder metallurgical (PM) nickel-based superalloys.
The weight of nickel-based superalloys and the dilution associated with cooling air are both regarded as detrimental in turbine engine design.